Standard document set
When we buy cars from Japanese car auctions for you, we process them on the Japan side, and arrange the export. The cars then travel to you (usually by ship), and either you or your customs agent will arrange the import at your end. In order to import the cars and to register them for road use, you need to have documents from us.
The standard document set we usually send customers comprises of:
- First Copy of the Bill of Lading (BL) or the copy of the Waybill
- Deregistration (also called Export) Certificate
Let’s look at each of these in turn.
Bill of Lading (BL)
The Bill of Lading details the cargo and also attributes ownership to the person or company named on it as the consignee. In addition to the consignee, there will also be a notify party mentioned, who may or may not be the same person as the consignee.
A common arrangement would be for you as the person buying the cars to be listed as the consignee, but you may have your customs clearing agent listed as the notify party.
Another common arrangement would be for you not to be mentioned at all, and instead to have your customer listed as the consignee. Just remember to make sure your customer has paid you in full, as a BL set up like this will entitle your customer to take possession of the vehicles anyway -- whether they have paid you or not!
There are three official copies of the Bill of Lading (the First, Second and Third). The standard document set includes one of these. We retain the others so that there are backups in case the first one we send to you gets lost (as it is impossible to get additional copies.)
Deregistation / Export Certificate
This is the document that proves the car was legally registered in Japan and that legal registration has been officially terminated so that the car can be exported. In other words, it makes it clear that the car is not a stolen car being sneaked out of the country.
The Deregistration Certificate will usually state the mileage that the vehicle had at its previous Shaken roadworthiness tests. This can be useful in your sales process to assure your customer that the mileage on the car is genuine. (Service history and JEVIC odometer certification are other tools to do this).
Other kinds of Documentation
Sea Waybills
Some shipping lines use electronic sea waybill instead of a physical BL. In this case, we will send you the sea waybill by email as an attachment and you will not receive a physical Bill of Lading. The sea waybill has the same legal status as a physical BL.
Surrendered Bill of Lading
For some routes, or at your direction, we can surrender the Bill of Lading. What this means is that we let the shipping company retain the BL copies and anthorize them to release the car to you directly.
This can be particularly useful if there isn’t enough time to get a physical BL copy to you and the car is at the port or about to arrive. If your cars don't take long to make the voyage from Japan, such as if we are shipping them to Canada, then we strongly recommend this method.
Other documents
In addition to the standard document set, you may have some of these documents included:
- Certification, if your country import rules require it.
Sending Documents To You
We use DHL services to send documents to you.
If there are other items, such as service history, spare keys and the like that have not been sent in the car itself, we will put these in the same package as the documents.
You will be able to find scans of documents like the BL and Deregistration Certificate in our online system in with the other images relating to your car. On the same page, you will also see buttons that generate PDF files of your invoices so you can print them out if you need to.
Replacing Lost Documentation
Bills of Lading
Shipping companies provide three official copies of the Bill of Lading (BL). These are called the First, Second, and Third Original. If lost, they cannot be replaced.
Unless you specifically request it, we will only send one of these original copies with your document package. In the unlikely event that you lose this copy, or if it goes missing in transit, we then have spare official copies as back ups that we can then send on to you.
Deregistration Certificates
Contrary to what some websites say, there is no way to get a replacement Deregistration Certificate, so please be very careful not to lose it.
If you do happen to lose it, we can get you another different official certificate called the genzai shomei sho for a charge of 15,000 JPY. This certificate is visually similar to the Deregistration Certificate and has similar information on it. Customers who have used this as a back up in several countries have been able to register their cars successfully using it. However, we cannot guarantee that this will definitely be the case for your particular country.
We find that the most successful importers really understand how it all works - from the auction to the ship and beyond. Don't get left behind!
